Furious Tories today warned that the EU will ‘poison’ relations for ‘a generation’ if it follows through on extraordinary threats to block Pfizer vaccines going to the UK – as ministers insisted they are ‘confident’ supplies will be maintained.
Amid a shambolic rollout across the bloc, Brussels has demanded drug firms give them early warning when exporting Covid jabs to countries outside the 27 member states, including tens of millions of doses destined for Britain.
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi insisted this morning that the UK’s huge push to get the four most vulnerable groups covered by mid-February will not be derailed.
But the sabre-rattling incensed senior MPs, with health secretary Jeremy Hunt slamming ‘vaccine nationalism’ and saying the EU must not block supplies that have been bought ‘legally and fairly’.
Meanwhile, there is another row raging after two German newspapers claimed the EU’s regulator could refuse to give the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab full approval, with officials anonymously briefing its efficacy for pensioners was just eight per cent.
However, the claim was branded ‘absolutely incorrect’ and ‘unsubstantiated’ by the pharmaceutical company – and No10 sources told MailOnline is was ‘rubbish’. One Whitehall source told Playbook it was the kind of tactics ‘you expect from the Russians’.
Tory MP Damian Collins suggested the briefing was connected to wrangling between the EU and AstraZeneca – which is based in the UK, whereas Pfizer has a manufacturing hub in Belgium – over access to supplies. ‘Either way it is dangerous and irresponsible and only helps the anti vaccine movement,’ he said.
Mr Zahawi told Sky News: ‘I’m confident they [Pfizer] will deliver the quantities we need to hit our mid-February deadline and beyond that. Pfizer will deliver to us. I’m sure they will deliver to the UK, EU and the rest of the world. I’m confident that will be able to vaccinate the entire adult population by the Autumn.’
He dodged the question about whether the EU was trying to block supplies the the EU, whose vaccination programme has fallen massively behind Britain’s. The move was branded ‘mean-spirited and selfish’ by MPs.
Mr Hunt told the Telegraph: ‘If the EU were to take action unilaterally that restricted supplies of vaccine bought legally and fairly by the UK, it would poison economic relations for a generation. At such a critical moment, the world needs vaccine nationalism like a hole in the head,’ he said.
On another dramatic day in the coronavirus crisis:
- Boris Johnson is preparing to unveil draconian new border restrictions, with arrivals from coronavirus hotspots forced to quarantine in hotels at their own expense – and the prospect of the measures being extended to all travellers;
- Mr Zahawi has revealed his uncle died from coronavirus before he received the vaccine;
- The UK’s jobless rate has crept up to 5 per cent – the highest level since 2016 – as employment slides;
- Labour has condemned Gavin Williamson for sending a junior minister to face calls from MPs to reveal a plan for ‘phased return’ of schools before Easter;
- European leaders are pushing to tighten Covid lockdown measures across the continent this week even after a weekend of violent anti-curfew riots in the Netherlands.
Concerns over vaccine supply on the continent have prompted the European Union to tell pharmaceutical companies they can only export to Britain with explicit permission from the bloc. Pictured: Jenny Holland, 86, from Mansfield receives her injection of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at a former Wickes store in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi insisted this morning that the UK’s huge push to get the four most vulnerable groups covered by mid-February will not be derailed
All companies producing vaccines against COVID-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries,’ EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides warned last night, as Britain prepares to receive nearly 3.5m of the Belgian-produced Pfizer (pictured: The company’s production plant in Belgium) vaccine in the next three weeks
Stella Kyriskides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, tonight warned delays at AstraZeneca were ‘not acceptable,’ and has scheduled for a second meeting after warning the vaccine developer’s initial excuses ‘have not been satisfactory’
AstraZeneca has blamed the EU’s supply chain for their failure to deliver the promised 80million vaccines by the end of March
The statement came after a weekend of protests over the tightening of lockdown rules in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands (pictured: Protests in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Sunday)
Early figures show there were 220,000 vaccinations in the UK yesterday. The number will be updated later today by the Department of Health to include jabs in all settings
Last night two German newspapers reported sources in Berlin saying EU experts told them in an off-the-record briefing that they have found the UK-made Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is only eight percent effective in pensioners.
The drug firm has furiously denied those reports, which came a fortnight after Klaus Cichutek, the head of Germany’s vaccine regulator, hailed the success rate of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine saying: ‘The efficacy remains outstanding and excellent’.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said: ‘Reports that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine efficacy is as low as 8 per cent in adults over 65 are absolutely incorrect.
‘In the UK the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) supported use in the population and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) included this group without dose adjustment in the authorisation for emergency supply. In November we published details in The Lancet demonstrating that older showed immune responses to the vaccine, with 100 per cent of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose.’
AstraZeneca angered Brussels earlier yesterday by warning it would cut the number of vaccines it will deliver to Europe by the end of March from 80million to 31million. But more concerning for EU health chiefs is the claim, the exact nature of which remained unclear today, that the AstraZeneca jab fails to adequately protect pensioners.
That would leave a large hole in the EU’s vaccine supplies as well as throwing into question the effectiveness of immunisation strategies in other countries including the UK, where getting AstraZeneca’s jabs in as many pensioners as possible is key to ending lockdown.
German financial broadsheet Handelsblatt and tabloid Bild both quoted sources in the federal government as saying the AZ jab was less than 10 per cent effective in over-65s.
The papers said German officials now fear the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU’s medicine regulator, may not approve giving the Oxford vaccine to such people.
The federal and state governments in Germany had planned to use the AstraZeneca vaccine for older people who live at home and cannot go to a vaccination centre due to age or illness.
However AstraZeneca last night branded the German reports ‘absolutely incorrect’.
The EMA’s approval of the vaccine is expected to take place on Friday, according to reports.
Like in the UK, European vaccine drives are relying on shots from multiple suppliers to reach their targets.
Britain has so far ordered 40million doses of AstraZeneca’s jab – which was the first to be approved in the UK and is a so-called ‘work horse’ of the UK vaccine roll-out. The UK is expecting to receive nearly 3.5million Pfizer doses within the next three weeks.
But in a stern warning likely to raise eye-brows in Westminster, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides last night declared the bloc would take ‘any action required to protect its citizens’.
The row came after British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca announced yesterday it could not meet the demand of a 300million dose vaccine deal it made with the EU in August – for which it was paid £298million upfront.
The move, described as ‘surprising’ by Ms Kyriakides, sparked fears of a vaccine shortage on the continent. EU bosses subsequently hit back, demanding ‘full transparency’ concerning the export of vaccines from the bloc.
In statement, she said: ‘Last Friday, the company AstraZeneca surprisingly informed the Commission and the European Union Member States that it intends to supply considerably fewer doses in the coming weeks than agreed and announced.
‘This new schedule is not acceptable to the European Union. The European Union has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and the production and wants to see the return.
‘The European Union wants to know exactly which doses have been produced by AstraZeneca and where exactly so far and if or to whom they have been delivered.’
Ms Kyriakides said the EU had asked AstraZeneca about the the change, but said the company’s answers had ‘not been satisfactory so far’.
She said: ‘We want our contract to be fully fulfilled. In addition, the Commission has today proposed to the 27 Member States in the Steering Board that an export transparency mechanism will be put in place as soon as possible.
‘We want clarity on transactions and full transparency concerning the export of vaccines from the EU.
‘In the future, all companies producing vaccines against COVID-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries.
In a stern warning, she added: ‘The European Union will take any action required to protect its citizens and rights.’
The statement came after a weekend of protests over the tightening of lockdown rules in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
The jab has already been approved in the UK, as well as Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Morocco, while Canadian officials have asked for more data before approving the vaccine.
The Oxford jab is cheaper and easier to store than the rival Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine – which is also being used in Germany.
The Oxford vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions. This is unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be kept at minus 70C.
But the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine came under fire last year when initial tests showed the vaccine was 62 per cent effective when two full doses were given at least a month apart.
This was less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which were both shown to be 95 per cent effective.
However, the Oxford vaccine’s efficacy rose to 90 per cent when people were given half a dose followed by a whole dose at least a month later.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, praised the results in a piece to the Sunday Times in December, saying: ‘We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else. I can’t tell you more because we will publish at some point.’
On the results, he said: ‘We would have preferred a simpler set of results, but overall we thought these are positive.’
Riots in the Netherlands (pictured) and Denmark come as EU chiefs voiced their fury after AstraZeneca said it would not be able to meet supplies set out in a £300m contract
A large group of young people clash with police on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam on Monday night amid growing anger over lockdown measures
Dutch policemen arrest a man during clashes with a large group of young people on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam, on January 25
Anti riot forces gather as groups of local youth gather on the streets of Schilderswijk, the Netherlands, for a second day on January 25
The deserted Avenue de l’Opera leading up to the Opera Garnier during a nationwide curfew, from 6pm to 6am, due to restrictions against the spread of Covid
The deserted Pont de Bir-Hakeim Bridge and the Eiffel Tower during a nationwide curfew, from 6pm to 6am, due to restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus
French MEP Veronique Trillet-Lenoir said the European Commission will consider ‘controlling’ products made in the European Union as part of its row with AstraZeneca over the bloc’s vaccine rollout, while also weighing up legal action.
The European Commission has accused the pharmaceutical company, which worked with Oxford University on the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, of failing to give a valid explanation for not delivering doses to the bloc.
Ms Trillet-Lenoir told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘A contract is a commitment, it is based on public money, long negotiations with mutual agreements on prices and ability (to deliver).
‘The Commission is right to say that, when trust is betrayed, we should take strong decisions.
‘First of all, (it) is thinking about controlling exportation for products made in the EU.
‘But the Parliament would agree, and will be alongside the Commission, if the decision is to take legal action.’
Politicians pushed to tighten lockdown measures across the continent even after a weekend of rioting brought scenes of chaos to the Netherlands and Denmark.
France is due to decide whether to bring in a third national lockdown this week as Prime Minister Jean Castex warned the situation there is ‘worrying’, with Italy’s top medic also calling for a month-long national shutdown.
The EU has not officially approved the Oxford/AstraZenecca jab yet but it is expected to give its assent on Friday, starting the mass roll-out.
Europe, which was initially praised for its tough response to Covid after most countries went into full lockdowns in March last year, has been hammered by a second wave that a mish-mash of measures has largely failed to control.
Those efforts have been complicated by the emergence of new and potentially more-infectious variants of the virus, including in the hard-hit UK, which is now back in full lockdown.
While many countries have announced new measures to try and bring infections down, case numbers have remained stubbornly high in countries such as France, Italy and Germany, causing hospitals to run out of space.
Meanwhile Spain and Portugal have both seen infections soar to record levels after a brief dip over the festive period, putting health services under strain.
The Netherlands, which had become one of Europe’s worst-affected countries with its light-touch lockdown approach, has seen cases fall dramatically in January but remain well above the lows seen during the summer.
As a result and amid fears the UK variant could cause cases to spike, new measures designed to bring the toll down were announced last week, including a 9pm to 4.30am curfew – the country’s first since World War Two.
The prompted protests in 10 cities on Sunday which turned violent, as protesters fought police, looted shops, and trashed police stations.
Authorities in Eindhoven announced on Monday that 62 people had been arrested and more are being sought, while officers in Amsterdam said 192 were arrested.
‘It is unacceptable,’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. ‘This has nothing to do with protesting, this is criminal violence and that’s how we’ll treat it.’
‘My city is crying, and so am I,’ Eindhoven Mayor John Jorritsma told media Sunday night. In an emotional impromptu press conference, he called the rioters ‘the scum of the earth’ and added ‘I am afraid that if we continue down this path, we’re on our way to civil war.’
Meanwhile, in locked-down Britain, it was announced yesterday that the UK had recorded the fewest coronavirus cases in a day since December 15 with 22,195 more people testing positive – a 41 per cent drop on last Monday – and new deaths remained level at 592, down one per cent in a week.
In further good news, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that 78.7 per cent of Britons over the age of 80 have had a Covid vaccine as he confirmed 6.6million people have received their first dose.
Boris Johnson sowed confusion today as he hinted that ‘some’ lockdown curbs could be eased in mid-February – but defied a growing Tory mutiny by refusing to guarantee that schools will be open by Easter
That means nearly one in 10 people across the country has had at least one dose that could protect them against deadly Covid-19, and the Government is nearly halfway through its drive to hit 15million by mid-February.
Britain is ahead of all other countries in Europe in its vaccine drive and has one of the highest per-person rates in the world – ahead of the Spain, France, Germany and Italy.
But furious EU officials have said they will investigate why Britain is not suffering from similar delays in the rollout as have been seen on the continent.
Peter Liese, an EU lawmaker from the same party as Angela Merkel, said: ‘The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the continent.
‘AstraZeneca has been contractually obligated to produce since as early as October and they are apparently delivering to other parts of the world, including the UK without delay.’
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had received an up-front payment of 336 million euros (£298million) from the EU when they struck a deal in August, an EU official told Reuters.
Europe’s vaccine roll-out was already among the slowest in the world, but has been hit by further problems as France’s Pasteur Institute mothballed its jab on Monday and AstraZeneca cut supplies to the bloc by 60 per cent due to ‘supply issues’
EU executive Ursula von der Leyen had a call on Monday with AstraZeneca’s chief Pascal Soriot to remind him of the firm’s commitments
The agreement for at least 300million shots was the first signed by the EU to secure Covid vaccines.
Under advance purchase deals sealed during the pandemic, the EU makes down payments to companies to secure doses, with the money expected to be mostly used to expand production capacity.
But AstraZeneca said on Friday: ‘Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.’
The site in question is a vaccine factory in Belgium run by the drugmaker’s partner Novasep.
A senior EU official said the bloc had a contractual right to check the company’s books to assess production and deliveries.
A Commission spokesman said: ‘We expect the company to find solutions and to exploit all possible flexiblities to deliver swiftly.’
EU executive Ursula von der Leyen had a call on Monday with AstraZeneca’s chief Pascal Soriot to remind him of the firm’s commitments, with a second meeting scheduled for the same day.
AstraZeneca was not immediately available to comment last night.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot denounced the ‘me first’ approach by some countries to obtaining doses
The first EU official, who has been directly involved in talks with AstraZeneca, said there were no high expectations about the meeting in which the company will be asked to better explain the delays, although its outcome is still unclear.
Earlier in January, Pfizer, which is currently the largest supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU, announced delays of nearly a month to its shipments, but hours later revised this to say the delays would last only a week.
EU contracts with vaccine makers are confidential, but the EU official did not rule out possible penalties for AstraZeneca, given the large revision to its earlier commitments. However the source did not elaborate on what could trigger the penalties. ‘We are not there yet,’ the official added.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is expected to be approved for use in the EU on January 29, with first deliveries expected from February 15.
On Monday, the boss of the pharmaceutical company denounced the ‘me first’ approach by some countries to obtaining doses.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot, speaking at a virtual event for the Davos World Economic Forum, also attacked a lack of global preparation for the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The arrival of ground-breaking Covid-19 vaccines could have been grounds for celebrating, ‘but it unfortunately wasn’t because there was a little bit of ‘me first’ behaviour’, Soriot said.
‘Globally, it is fair to say we could and should have been better prepared for this pandemic,’ he added.
Soriot noted however that ‘things are changing and international collaboration is emerging’ over the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than two million people.
‘There are many good examples of tremendous public-private collaboration actually in many countries,’ he said.
Going forward, ‘the first thing to do is to invest in prevention and early detection and early treatment’, Soriot added.
He noted that among the world’s most industrialised countries, only three-percent of health expenditure is spent on prevention.
‘Twenty percent of this 3.0 percent… is spent on immunisation and early detections of disease.
‘So, essentially, we kind of tend to wait for people to become sick to try to address that, as opposed to early detecting (of) disease and preventing it.’